Eleven months on from the first round of hearings for the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, Commissioner Hayne’s final report has been released.

Aged Care Royal CommissionSetting the tone for the Aged Care Royal Commission

Last week’s hearings for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, introduced the leaders of some of Australia’s peak bodies, unions, consumer organisations and the Secretary to the Department, Glenys Beauchamp. In all 26 witnesses were called.

The 2019 Biotechnology Industry Position survey conducted by Ausbiotech and supported by Grant Thornton has revealed that new technologies across regenerative medicine and medicinal cannabis are disrupting the industry, and Australia's global strength in clinical trials continues to drive contributions to the economic and social fabric of the country.

mid-sized business reportManufacturing is critical to our economy – how can we support the sector?

Although the knock-on effects of the Australian automotive industry exiting our country are yet to be fully understood, the industry is evolving, and manufacturing continues to be a major employer and critical to our overall economy.

There is a lot of noise around the property sector at the moment – and it’s not all positive. Prices are down – but this shouldn’t be a surprise when some markets (namely Sydney & Melbourne) saw unprecedented hikes in recent years.

Top 10 things for Financial Services providers

07 Feb 2019

Eleven months on from the first round of hearings for the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, Commissioner Hayne’s final report has been released. The report offers 76 recommendations, all of which the Federal Government and Labor say they will implement.

We have been following the Royal Commission closely over the past 12 months, working with the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) to issue two reports on A Case for Proportionate Regulation and holding regular roundtable discussions with our banking and superannuation clients. We have reflected not only on how the Commission has impacted the banking sector, but also on key learnings that our clients can take from the findings, and apply them to their own organisations.

We were surprised by what wasn’t in the report. There was nothing in there about banning vertical integration and changing the composition and structure of the industry. There will be no individual criminal prosecution, little impact on executive pay and bonuses, lenders mortgage insurance will be unaffected and APRA and ASIC will remain as individual regulators.

However, there was still a lot that came out of the report that was expected. Recommendations such as assessing and addressing culture and governance, extending BEAR to all APRA-regulated financial services institutions and implementations of the recommendations made by ASIC’s Enforcement Review Taskforce.